In order to impart the stiffness to the hood required to reduce a pedestrian from contacting vehicle parts under the hood, the hood, for example as shown in DE 10 2007 003 796 A1, encompasses a stiffening layer in addition to the outer skin, which is joined with the outer skin along the edges of the latter, and together with the outer skin forms a loadable hollow profile or honeycomb structure.
In this conventional construction, the hood is lifted up by means of an airbag, which is situated on the underside of a hollow profile of the hood, and protected by a soundproofing mat secured to the underside of the hood. When the airbag is inflated during an accident to initiate the lifting movement of the hood, it presses the soundproofing mat downward until it encounters resistance, and then lifts up the hood, spreading out through the gap that here expands between the rear edge of the hood and the windshield and extending over the windshield.
The airbag tightly folded together in numerous layers and the soundproofing mat extending around it require space underneath the hood, which is not available for other fixtures normally provided at this location, such as a radiator tank, windshield wiper arms and their drive.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a motor vehicle body in which accommodating the actuator brings with it fewer limitations with respect to the ability to place other fixtures in proximity to the rear edge of the front hood. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.